Is B.C.’s Real Estate Industry Under Crackdown?

This week, B.C. Superintendent of Real Estate, Carlon Rogers, is expected to give a final report.

We have to hand it to her.

The superintendent is well known for handling drama. There are just a couple of weeks left on the job and she’s expected to deliver a very important report— on the state’s hottest topic of debate.

Ms. Rogers is about to join an organization which is responsible for supervising the Canadian Banking Sector.

Rogers is also a superintendent of real estate. However, she has been a chairperson for the Independent Advisory Group on Real Estate Regulation, which was her main job for the past few months. The Independent Advisory Group on Real Estate Regulation was formed at the behest of the Real Estate Council of B.C. and is an organization that was quickly formed to rescue B.C’s housing market from greedy spectators.

Although it’s up to Rogers to tell the RECBC (Real Estate Council of B.C.) that the days of self-regulation are gone. And never was this more apparent than in the interim report released two months back.

Many folks are wondering how effective the advisory group would be, and most importantly if the province is able to follow through on its convictions.

Rogers wrote in her interim report that “Public confidence in the integrity of the real estate services sector and its regulation has been shaken,”

“Each member of the advisory group has understood that from the moment they accepted their appointment, that part of the role of the IAG is to help restore public confidence that those providing real estate services are held to high legal and ethical standards.” she added

“The IAG’s concern is that these blurred lines appear to dilute responsibilities and accountabilities of the council and make it unnecessarily difficult for consumers to navigate the complaint process,” Rogers wrote.

“We are also concerned that the trade associations have assumed the role of triaging consumer complaints and are doing so with no requirement for public transparency or reporting to the council.”